Sexual Assault Awareness Month is a great opportunity to create a community-wide campaign and strengthen local partnerships and coalitions. Public education campaigns play an important role in changing social norms by sharing basic facts with members of the community. This guide contains steps for planning a successful campaign to inform and engage the public.

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) is pleased to offer state coalitions, community rape crisis centers and other interested parties assistance in promoting the 2017 Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) campaign. This year’s theme, “Engaging New Voices,” provides an exciting opportunity to broaden our reach and engage the greater community in prevention efforts. We recognize the critical work that advocates, educators, and state coalitions do every day in providing victim services, managing important on-the-ground advocacy efforts, and cultivating and strengthening relationships with key stakeholders and media. The NSVRC also supports and encourages the diverse ways that the field commemorates SAAM. Therefore, this media toolkit is intended to serve as a template and guide from which you can utilize and tailor to bolster your individual unique efforts. Our hope is that these tools will help you drive media interest during SAAM to raise awareness and promote prevention.

We can all use our voices to change the culture to prevent sexual violence. Prevention requires addressing the root causes and social norms that allow sexual violence to exist. This April, we're calling on groups whose influence can play a critical role in changing the culture. We’re strongest when we raise our voices together, and that’s why we’re engaging new groups in the movement. These groups can join us in helping the next generation foster attitudes that promote healthy relationships, equality, and respect. These new voices will have a ripple effect on those that they teach, guide, and influence.

Director’s Viewpoint: Karen Baker, NSVRC Director, discusses the steps the movement is taking, from the launch of Raliance to the new documentary Audrie & Daisy.

Raliance launch: New collaborative initiative Raliance writes about their goal of ending sexual violence in one generation.

Audrie & Daisy focuses on early education: In a Q&A, co-director of Audrie & Daisy Bonni Cohen shares the film’s impact and talks about the importance of early education in sexual violence prevention.

Collaborating to end the sexual abuse to prison pipeline: The National Organization for Women shares their plan for ending the sexual abuse to prison pipeline that disproportionately affects young women of color and transgender youth.

The Sexual Assault Demonstration Initiative (SADI) was created to enhance sexual assault outreach, services, and community partnerships in dual/multi-service programs. Six sites across the nation engaged in a four-­year process of assessment, planning, and implementation of new and enhanced services and organizational capacity building. The Final Report provides concrete lessons learned and recommendations for funders, technical assistance providers, and dual/multi-service programs.

The Spring/Summer 2016 edition of The Resource highlights culture in a number of ways:

Director’s Viewpoint: Karen Baker, NSVRC Director, discusses how changes in the culture surrounding sexual violence have been prominent this year, from the Oscars to the White House.

Evaluation is for everyone: Multicultural Efforts to end Sexual Assault (MESA) shares their culturally relevant evaluation process, from building a framework to implementing strategies in the community.

West Virginia’s online academy provides needed resources: West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services (WVFRIS) developed an online training academy for service providers.

Community Integrity Program uses evidence-based practices: Princeton University’s Community Integrity Program is a secondary prevention program that holds individuals who offend accountable.

For some patients, there is a correlation between sexual trauma and disordered eating: Pennsylvania Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine shares the connections between sexual trauma and eating disorders.

This issue also includes a look back at this year’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a spotlight on the Hawaii Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s Community Action Teams, and several milestones for NSVRC.

Do you have an idea for a future story? Send your ideas to resources@nsvrc.org with the subject line “Resource Story Idea.”

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This site is supported by Grant/ Cooperative Agreement No. 1UF2CE002359-04 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.